UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Alzheimer's memory loss mechanism found

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists said they might have discovered the mechanism responsible for memory loss observed in Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers at the University of California-San Francisco's Gladstone Institute and the Baylor College of Medicine discovered a mechanism by which the protein Amyloid-beta might impair neurological functions in Alzheimer's disease.

Amyloid-beta, known to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer patients, has long been a focus of research into the causes and treatment of the disease. In the new study, Gladstone scientists found A-beta triggers abnormal over-excitation of the same brain networks that are responsible for learning and memory.

"Such abnormal network activity in Alzheimer's patients was thought to be a collateral or secondary event caused by the degeneration of nerve cells," said Jorge Palop, a Gladstone research scientist and lead author of the study. "But our study suggests that this activity may actually be a primary effect of A-beta and an early determinant of cognitive failure."

The findings are detailed in the journal Neuron.

Radio telescopes are linked for first time

COONABARABRAN, Australia, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Astronomers have, for the first time, linked radio telescopes in Australia, China and Europe, effectively creating a telescope nearly as big as the Earth.

A radio telescope in Australia was linked with similar facilities in China and Europe in real time late last month, scientists at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization said.

The CSIRO telescope near Coonabarabran in New South Wales was used simultaneously with one near Shanghai and five others in Europe to observe a distant galaxy called 3C273.

"This is the first time we've been able to instantaneously connect telescopes half a world apart," said Tasso Tzioumis, development manager at CSIRO’s Australia Telescope National Facility. "It's a fantastic technical achievement …"

Data from the telescopes were transmitted to Xi’an, China, where they were watched live by experts in advanced networking during the 24th Asia-Pacific Advanced Network meeting.

"The more widely separated the telescopes, the more finely detailed the observations can be," said Tzioumis. "The diameter of the Earth is 12,750 kilometers (7,922 miles) and the two most widely separated telescopes in our experiment were 12,304 kilometers (7,645 miles) apart, in a straight line."

Bacteria successful in cancer treatment

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Dutch scientists have discovered bacteria that thrive in oxygen starved environments might be useful in delivering gene therapy to cancer patients.

The researchers, led by Jan Theys of Maastricht University, have used such bacteria to successfully target cancer tumors in patients for which traditional treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are ineffective.

"To target a tumor with gene therapy you need three things," said Theys. "You need to be able to distinguish the tumor from its surrounding healthy tissue. You need to identify a therapeutic gene that will treat the problem. And you need some way of delivering the gene to the tumor.

"The majority of solid tumors contain regions of low oxygen or dead tissue. This environment encourages the growth of certain bacteria such as the Clostridium family, making them an ideal agent to deliver anti-cancer treatments" said Theys. "We have now shown that genetically engineered clostridia can successfully treat tumors in animals."

The Maastricht scientists, in collaboration with researchers at Nottingham University, reported their research last week at the University of Edinburgh during the 161st meeting of the Society for General Microbiology.

NASA builds a hot temperature circuit chip

CLEVELAND, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. space agency scientists have designed and built a circuit chip that can operate for long periods in high temperature environments.

In the past, integrated circuit chips could not withstand more than a few hours of high temperatures before degrading or failing. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's new chip exceeded 1,700 hours of continuous operation at 500 degrees Celsius (932 degrees Fahrenheit) -- a 100-fold increase over previous chips.

NASA said the new silicon carbide differential amplifier integrated circuit chip might provide benefits to anything requiring long-lasting electronic circuits in very hot environments, such as small circuitry in hot areas of jet engines as well as automotive engines.

"It's really a significant step toward mission-enabling harsh environment electronics," said Phil Neudeck, an electronics engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. "This new capability can eliminate the additional plumbing, wires, weight and other performance penalties required to liquid-cool traditional sensors and electronics near the hot combustion chamber, or the need to remotely locate them elsewhere where they aren't as effective."